wiring a on off switch for the headlight and tail light on 04 wr450f!

J_Mayday86

so im not liking the fact that my lights are on all the time wile the bike is running. i am trying to wire in a switch so that if it's getting dark i can turn them on but, during the day i can switch them off. the headlight is easy to get to the wiring for the switch, but the tail light is a different story. if im following my wires right, it never comes upto the front where i can tie into it easy. hoping that somebody has a better idea on how to go about it rather than having to run wires from under my gas tank (for the tail light) upto the switch. is there any wires for the tail light up front? Has anybody else tried to do this? hoping you guys can help. THANKS!!!!

MY-BLUE-BEAST

There are no wires running from the tail light to the front of the bike. The wires go to the fusees under the seat in front of the battery, take a look there, and look at it hard and make a plan before you start splicing wires together. You might have to extend the tail light wires to the handle bars.

J_Mayday86

Just_a_trail_rider

so im not liking the fact that my lights are on all the time wile the bike is running. i am trying to wire in a switch so that if it's getting dark i can turn them on but, during the day i can switch them off. the headlight is easy to get to the wiring for the switch, but the tail light is a different story. if im following my wires right, it never comes upto the front where i can tie into it easy. hoping that somebody has a better idea on how to go about it rather than having to run wires from under my gas tank (for the tail light) upto the switch. is there any wires for the tail light up front? Has anybody else tried to do this? hoping you guys can help. THANKS!!!!

You could probably trace the wires back to the harness from the stator that is powering them.

But quite honestly, when you are riding the bike, you cannot even see the lights.

miweber929

wouldn't the battery charge easier and faster if they weren't on all the time?

Well, yes and no. I am sure I am going to some argument for this but it's a theory that has been working for me for a while. Honda had some issues on their sportbikes with their regulators/rectifiers basically cooking themselves to death. One of my bikes went about 2x as long on it's rectifier and one never went out in the 44k miles I owned it and I always attributed it to the fact I run my highbeams most ofthee tine during the day.

Theory being a stator puts out X amount of power needing to be dissapated by a load such as lights, CDI and battery recharging. Whatever is left needs to be disposed of and the reg/rec is where it's done as heat. By running my highbeams, I am creating more of a load on the system and the RR doesn't have as much leftover to rid itself if. Thus, less heat.

So to answer your question, yes, a battery charge is a load and will get more juice if there are no other loads on the system but a battery can only "take" so much or it would boil over as regulated by tge RR. And the charging system of the WR is setup to run lights as a load so there is enough current to do both in a healthy system.

If you are running short enough distances that charging the battery between starts is an issue, you need to kickstart the bike and start worrying about moisture in the oil as it's never getting up to temp then.

J_Mayday86

thanks for the advice. i never thought of that little fact. if there is even a small chance of that happening then i'm not going to risk it. i'll just leave the lights alone and ride the damn thing. no but seriously, i apriciate the imfo and will leave them the way they are. thanks, josh

jrutkows

It doesn't work like that. The headlight is on the AC side of things and whether it is there or not the battery will see the same voltage from the regulator/rectifier circuit. It won't change the load on the regulator/rectifier. The current the battery draws to charge is a function the voltage applied. Unless your RPMs drop real low, so regulator/rectifier can't maintain the power output for charging the battery, unhooking the headlight will not change anything under normal riding conditions

PBDBLUE

It doesn't work like that. The headlight is on the AC side of things and whether it is there or not the battery will see the same voltage from the regulator/rectifier circuit. It won't change the load on the regulator/rectifier. The current the battery draws to charge is a function the voltage applied. Unless your RPMs drop real low, so regulator/rectifier can't maintain the power output for charging the battery, unhooking the headlight will not change anything under normal riding conditions

Actually it's more fundamental than that. There are two magneto coils on the WR. One runs the headlight & taillight. The other charges the battery through a regulator\rectifier. Turning of the lights will not increase the battery charging capacity at all. Zip Nada None.......

BANSHEE

I have an 04 wr 450, and to me weather people understand it or not, it's a matter of preference...I personally went to yamaha and bought a $7.00 switch and wired my headlight into it...I just like the light off during the daytime...some times depending on conditions I guess the light would give someone a little more warning that you are coming at them, but none of my yz's ever had a light and I never had any trouble...as far as the tail light...I just don't care about it for some reason...but some would I guess and that's cool.

J_Mayday86

i apriciate all of your guy's help. since we are already here i got another question for ya. just got and installed a trail tech vapor speedo/tack/water temp guage. looking at my idle speed and i think that i should bring it up a bit. its running at about 1400rpm. i've seen on some of the forums that some people are running there's at around 1800-2100. that seems a little high to me. is that best or is it just a personal preference?

BANSHEE

I also have a trail tech puter, but it's the older version...no temp or tach....so as far as idle speed goes, I have absolutely no idea where my is idleing. If it sounds too fast I'd slow it down, if it sounds too slow I'd speed it up. I think it really is just a matter of preference. if you are having trouble with stalling your motor in slow corners or something, then I guess you would want it a little faster for that....or use the clutch more. I would'nt worry about it though...

BANSHEE

Hey, I just noticed that your in Idaho.. maybe sometime you would want to hook up over here or me over there and go for a rip...my brother also has a wr 450 and would probably want to go also.....let me know what you think.

forsta_02

stealth mode haha just made me remember when i was 14-15 my old 02 wr250 had the on and off switch and was perfect sneaking the bike out and going for a little ride around the street haha. and was perfect if you ever came across police!